LoZ: Legends Collide
by AngelDancingOnAPin
Summary: AU. When Link, a formerly ordinary mortal, is suddenly bestowed a power he doesn't understand, given responsibility for a bratty demon princess, and tasked with hunting down the greatest threat to the planet in a thousand years, what will happen? Will he even survive? Will he save the world from certain destruction? Will the princess ever give him a raise? Link/Midna.


A/N: I wrote herpes soooooo many times trying to type heroes. Derp. Just imagine poor old me writing "the world is full of herpes" and die laughing.

Review! Make me feel loved! Because if I feel loved, I update. Really. I do... Promise...

Yup I'm officially pathetic. Quit reading my bitching and read the story.

* * *

INTRODUCTION

The world is full of heroes.

First, you have your run of the mill heroes; police officers, firefighters, and those who, in general, do the right thing.

Then, you have your legends. People who, for whatever reason, take possibility and kick it in the face. Then, maybe, they quit abusing the laws of reality and lay the hurt on a demon prince, evil wizard, or tyrannical overlord. People who have real power, either through training, dedication, or sheer dumb luck.

Maybe you went to one of the so called "Ethereal Universities" and learned some magic, probably developing a pimping taste in hats and robes while you were at it. Maybe you found a sword in a rock, gave it a tug, and found yourself the subject of one of the many, many prophecies out there. Maybe you aren't what we would call human, and have some sort of cool mojo because of that.

Or maybe you weren't cut out to be the heroic type.

Maybe, when you found the Ancient Holy Blade of Stabbing, or when you learned how to warp the energies of magic in that special way that creates giant flaming explosions, you were the type of person who thought "You know, I never liked that one jackass who cut me off in traffic..." or "You know, if I decided to use this on a town of innocent villagers they would have absolutely no way to stop me..." and things went downhill from there.

This a story about the remnants of a kingdom where such magic was very, very real. A kingdom that lives on today, in a world just like our own, with one key difference. All the magic so tragically absent from our reality is put right back where it belongs; everywhere. This is a story of monsters, heroes, and those in between.

This is a story of Hyrule, like you have never known it.

Enjoy your stay.

You won't be leaving.

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

Gasping, panting, the old man hurtled down the wood paneled hallway, his aged body on the verge of collapse, his green robes streaming behind him. Just a few feet away, a slender shape in loose gray and blue clothes pursued him, their face hidden by a hood, their long golden braid bouncing in time to their pounding feet. Finally, the man couldn't manage another step, and collapsed to the cold floor, trying to support himself against one wall.

"Stop! You do not comprehend the powers you face!" He managed to intone, trying his best to sound mystical and intimidating. Mostly he sounded wheezy and out of breath. Age happened to everyone, he supposed.

"Oh, I comprehend them just fine." The assassin replied, her voice cultured and aristocratic. "Which is funny, because the one who doesn't seem to get them is you, hero. Though, not really much of a hero, are you?" She laughed cruelly. "Oh look. You're shaking. How... pathetic." With a sudden, snapping kick, her leg caught the old man in the chest. He flew backwards, crashing through a nearby window and down to the street, several stories below.

The figure crossed to the broken hole and looked down at her falling victim. "Wonderful. Well, at least he isn't going to be getting back up from that."

* * *

"And what, exactly, would you say happened madam? I'm still a little unclear on the details." I asked, my fingers securing a death grip on my sandy blonde hair. Any more of this bullshit and I was going to tear it out.

"I told you that already!" The panicked voice of an elderly woman blared through the phone, right into his ear. "That hooligan took every single potion of healing in my shop! Look, I realize the princess doesn't know who he is but she needs to invest more energy into finding-"

I hung up, and sighed. That was the fifteenth. Godsdamn. Time. This week. My extremely comfortable chair rolled backwards as I stood with a jerk, stretched, and headed for the princess. I arrived at her elaborately carved pair of double doors, and knocked twice. Then, without bothering to wait for a reply, walked into the office of arguably the most powerful individual on the planet. Maybe not the best idea in normal circumstances, but underpaid secretaries get some privileges, pissy rudeness chief among them.

"Another incident of that time distorting thief?" Princess Zelda asked, her high class British accent sounding even more tired than he felt. As usual, she was seated behind an elaborate mahogany desk, typing furiously on a sleek laptop.

"Yup. Fifteenth time this week."

"I realize." She murmured, and I felt mildly embarrassed and mildly annoyed. Of course she knew; the princess knew everything. Sometimes I wondered why she didn't just run the entire Hylian Corporation by herself. Probably just because she couldn't copy herself. Yet.

"Do we have the manpower to spare for an organized search? I realize the entire incident with the Gerudo has left us a little thin, but the fact this person is doing whatever they please in our city isn't looking good with the rest of the practitioners."

"Ah yes. I've lost my... street cred, have I?" Zelda asked, a rare smile gracing her perfect features as she brushed a lock of hazelnut brown hair out of her eyes. "Don't worry Link. I'll work something out. For now, check the lists and see if you think there's anyone capable of dealing with something like this."

I bowed. "Yes, milady." With that, I took my leave, quietly closing the doors behind me. As usual, I was relegated to being a glorified desk jockey. Sometimes, that really pissed me off. You deal with magicians, sorcerers, heroes of legend, chosen ones, and gods long enough, and you begin to really get annoyed at being normal.

Maybe I should back up and explain.

I am the secretary for the Hylian Corporation. That sounds incredibly dull until you realize the Hylian Corporation is the modern day version of an ancient kingdom where magic was very, very real. It still is; they've just stopped having fireball duels on main street. After all, when the angry mobs have guns, it pays to stop advertising. So now, the Hylian Corporation manages the majority of human magic and its relations with... decidedly less human magic.

At the top of the food chain is Princess Zelda, CEO of the Corporation and arguably the most powerful human practitioner of magic on the planet. No, wait, that isn't an argument at all. She is. And here I am, an ordinary mortal, working as a secretary for her. Just let that sink in a little bit.

I'm plain as dirt.

And yet, I know more magical theory than most people who could crush me like an ant. More often than not, it bugs the hell out of me, and tends to give me little patience for the flood of calls I have to constantly deal with from hedge magicians who, for instance, are reporting a string of petty thefts. Seriously, broken pots? Stolen cash? Stolen cash that was being stored in a pot? You have powers beyond mortal ken and imagining and this is what you waste my time with?

And yet, for whatever reason, I stick around, mostly out of desire to keep the little bits of magic I have than lose it entirely. It's a living after all, though not a great one. Being part of a society where an average mortal life is seen as fleeting and insignificant, I tend to get a salary that accurately reflects said societies view of things like currency.

I fumed about all of this on my way back to my office, slumped into my chair, and pulled up a file on which of the various heroes we might have available to deal with the latest in a long line of issues. What with the Gerudo war, and... decidedly delicate negotiations with a long list of demonic and celestial courts, we were currently stretched to the limit. And despite the minor nature of the crimes, someone who could screw with time was a pro league hardass.

I settled down and pulled up a document containing a list of available heroes, then began to scroll. No... no... definitely no...

Abruptly, I lost control of my limbs. My head jerked back and I fell out of my chair, spasming wildly. Everything in my body had gone numb but my hand, which was burning like fire. I might have screamed, the instant before my world went a golden white.

Then it darkened to black as my eyes closed and I lost consciousness.

That was... unexpected.

* * *

I woke up with the princess standing over me, a silver sword in her hand.

"Gah! Okay no severance pay!" I joked, despite the pounding pain resounding throughout my body. She knelt down, placing two fingers on my head.

"Shush. You were just the center of a massive spike of magic, and I want to know why. Hold still."

Immediately I went silent and immobile like a deer in the headlights while her cool hand traced my forehead. She closed her eyes, concentrating heavily, working a spell of some kind. There was another flash of golden light, and abruptly she hurtled back, cracking her head savagely into my desk.

"Are you ok?" I rushed over to her, an abrupt reversal of our roles.

"Fine. Fine." Suddenly, she stared openmouthed at me. "My gods Link. Your hand..."

"What about it?" Then I looked down. On it was a glowing triangle, still burning with golden fire. Oh... shit... that wasn't there before...

"My office. Now." She snapped, climbing to her feet and hurrying off down the hallway. I trailed after like a confused puppy, eyes fixed on the symbol etched on my hand. Bursting through the door, she motioned for me to sit in one of her large leather armchairs, and I stumbled in while she browsed one of her shelves for a book. I was still transfixed by the triangle when she returned with a heavy, worn tome. Zelda plopped it down on the coffee table and took up a position on the armchair opposite me. Without preamble, she started reading.

"A trinity of three goddesses, Farore, Din, and Nayru, regularly take to blessing mortals, where three humans they felt most exemplified the ideals of courage, wisdom, and power receive a portion of the respective god's energies. Nayru was associated with wisdom, Din with power, and Farore with courage. The first of these, the blessing of Farore, is associated with several traits. First and foremost is a resistance to outside magic. Second is a vastly increased athletic ability. Third, while not very well understood, is an instinctive inheritance of the skills of previous wielders. This includes a familiarity with most items and devices, along with unexplained flashes of intuition in stressful situations."

Zelda finished the passage, and looked up at me. "For the past few years, I have had the blessing of Nayru. It's a lot of the reason why I am where I am today; it amplifies my natural magical talent and gives me advice on the proper course of action. The Gerudo leader causing many of our problems, Ganondorf, has the blessing of Din. And it seems Farore has chosen a new wielder."

"But... multiple people can't have it at once, right? And someone else already had it. Umm... it started with a 'D'..."

"Daphnes. And no, something must have happened. This entire situation is... worrying. To say the least. We'll need to find his body, first and foremost. And who killed him."

I nodded. "But... what should I do with this? I mean, what's going to happen?"

Zelda looked uncertain. "Honestly, I'm not sure." She smiled softly. "I doubt you'll keep working as a secretary." Then her face grew deadly serious again. "But regardless, the blessing of the three goddesses is one of the stronger magical forces out there. You have just inherited a great deal of responsibility."

"I..." I looked down at my hand. Well... formality was best. And I'm not sure I could run on anything but autopilot anyway. "I'll try my best, milady."

"Hmm... yes... for now, go home and get some rest. I'll have to think of what to do with you tomorrow. We will undoubtedly require someone rather skilled to train you... and someone to replace you in your managerial role."

Link stared at the symbol etched into his hand. "Guess I'm not a secretary any more."

It's funny where your mind goes in a situation like this.

* * *

I was going to take Zelda's advice and sleep. Really, I was. I had no temptation whatsoever to screw around with my new godlike powers. Which was, of course, why I found myself in the fifth fencing club of the night, squaring off against the head instructor. A paragon of restraint and honor, that's me.

"And... fence!" One of the students called, and I moved. This guy was tall and thin, built like a whip. He moved like one too, testing me with lightning fast jabs and thrusts. Without any effort on my part, my arm blurred, sending his blade to the side by the barest of margins with a staccato drumbeat of dull metallic clinks. Finally, I got bored. Actually, it was less finally, and more five minutes. With a casual, powerful flick, I hit his sword so hard the point slammed into the ground. Before he could move, I slashed mine back up, the blunt metal point skittering off his protective mask.

"Touch right!"

The other four matches didn't end up being any more interesting.

"Bout, right! Fencers, salute, shake hands." Jerking off the hot, muggy helmet, I offered a hand. The instructor took it, his dark hair plastered to his head.

"That was extremely impressive. Do you compete professionally?" He said, smiling ruefully. I could tell the loss hurt, but he was being a good sport about it. Besides, he didn't know that it was completely unfair. It was enough to make me cringe a little inside from guilt.

"Nope. You... wouldn't believe my story. Sorry for wasting your time."

"Waste my time?" He laughed. "I could watch this match over a hundred times and learn something new. You're... flawless, from what I could tell."

I didn't reply, just shot him a guilty smile and hurried out onto the crowded city street. Well, that confirmed it. The princess's speech on having powers beyond mortal ken wasn't a joke. And it seemed the people who had this power before me were absolutely kickass with a sword, because it just felt right in my hand.

In fact, I had been surprised by how light the blade was. It wasn't just that I was stronger and faster, though I was. It was almost like I was used to a sword many times bigger. Then again. If this power was as old as Zelda claimed, it had probably gotten into human hands sometime around the "get the biggest, heaviest lump of metal possible, sharpen it, and call it a sword" era of history.

Just to make a long story short, I was on top of the world, heading for the moon. This was absolutely amazing; like everything about me was supercharged. It was like a triple espresso for every cell in my body. Naturally, that was when things started to go very, very wrong as my usual luck kicked in.

I was in a back alley, already a wise and astute choice of locations, heading for my apartment further downtown. Suddenly, seemingly out of thin air, a teenaged boy appeared. He had golden hair, bright blue eyes, and a green hoodie. In one hand he was carrying a small ceramic instrument. What were those things called... ocarina! That's it!

"Hello." He said, very quietly. "I'm sorry, but you need to go now."

"Huh?" I replied. Intelligent, I know.

"You shouldn't be here." The stranger continued. "It's much too early." He raised the ocarina to his lips. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you."

"Now hold on a..." I was interrupted by a stream of clear, deep notes from the instrument. Abruptly, the boy disappeared. Out of instinct more than anything else, I rolled forward as he appeared behind me, launching a savage kick where my head had been a moment ago. When I spun back to face him he was still playing, the resonating tone of the instrument echoing strangely in the cramped alley. Abruptly, he seemed to blur with superhuman speed, moving incredibly fast as he closed the distance.

I darted to one side again, barely avoiding another brutal kick. He skidded a moment, pausing his playing to speak again.

"Huh. This is a bit harder than I thought. Oh well." He stomped both feet on the ground, and for the first time I noticed his strange, heavy boots. Which now had short, ugly blades coming out of the tips. Wonderful. Then I realized something. He had to keep playing that ocarina; whatever he was doing seemed to depend on it. That gave me two advantages; he couldn't use his hands, and his entire strategy depended on the instrument.

Also, if I guessed right, this was the jackass who had kept my phone ringing off the hook for the past week.

I gritted my teeth and concentrated. As he started playing again, vanishing out of the air, I sidestepped and swiveled, sending my fist thundering into where I hoped his face would be. It slammed into the ocarina, which shattered, and continued right on down to crack into his nose. He fell flat on his back, unconscious, and I inspected my hand. It was studded with several bits of shattered blue pottery.

"Ow." I muttered, picking out the nastiest pieces with a wince. Though the other guy looked a lot worse; after all, I basically punched it down his throat. Hurriedly, I checked to see if he was still breathing. He was, though his good looks were well and truly ruined. I was just about to flip out my cell and call the princess when the shattered bits of the ocarina started to move. Swirling together in a loose cloud, they twisted and writhed like a living thing. Being an idiot, I watched openmouthed.

Then, abruptly, they formed a perfect circle. The inside of which was rapidly turning into a churning, black fog. Shit. I hastily punched in the number and called.

"Yes Link? I'm rather busy."

"Uh, milady, I think we have a..." I turned to look at the black cloud that had rapidly filled part of the alley. "We have a bit of a problem. Can you get over here?" She hung up, and I stared stupidly at the screen. Did she really just...

Suddenly, a glowing ribbon of yellow appeared next to me. With a burst of green light, the princess appeared. "This had better be important." She snapped. Then she saw the cloud. And stopped. "That is what you called me about, correct?"

"Yup."

"My apologies for berating you. I should have trusted your judgement." She peered closely at it. "Explain. I will attempt to contain it as you do." With that, she extended a hand, and a glowing cage of diamond shaped blue crystals appeared around the black cloud. She gritted her teeth, and began visibly sweating. "Tell. Me. What. It. Is." She growled. "Now!"

I was shocked into speaking.

"It belonged to that time traveler. It used to be an instrument; an ocarina. He was using it to teleport, and move really fast. I don't know if it could do anything else, since I kind of broke it."

"Broke it?" The princess asked, incredulous.

"Yeah. I hit it, and it broke. Then the pieces started moving and it did... this." I finished.

Zelda stared at me in horror. "Shit."

I stared back, now absolutely terrified. The princess didn't swear. The princess never swore. The princess never even got upset. What the hell was this thing?

Abruptly, the black smoke vanished, to reveal the pieces of the ocarina gone. In their place was... something. It was tall, and covered in rough black hair traced with bloody red, except a patch of white on its chest. Its head had five, thick horns arching backwards, and its burning red eyes were cruel and haughty.

"My name is Shadow." The creature hissed, its voice silky smooth and deep. "I have come to take revenge for my imprisonment."

* * *

A/N: My general idea is to make this so that each incarnation of Link is a new character, with a distinct personality, powers, history, et cetera. However, I will be only following the Twilight Princess incarnation, because I felt between that and Skyward Sword Link he was most expressive and emotional, but Skyward Sword Link was a little different personality wise than I wanted. God I sound like an overly obsessed fan don't I? Sowwy... but please, I want reviews! Follows! Favorites! But mostly reviews. And please, give me some negative ones too! Otherwise, if you have a problem with the story, it will remain there, annoying, forever. IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT! Also I update faster if I feel loved. I DEMAND YOUR DEVOTION! GIMME!

(Also did anyone cheer a little bit when they noticed I'm including Shadow the Hedgehog in this? I did.)


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